Emergency door latch



Oct. 17, 1967 A F, GlBSON 3,347,079

EMERGENCY DOOR LATCH FIG. l

Oct. 17, 1967 A. F. GIBSON 3,347,070

EMERGENCY DOOR LATCH Filed Aug. 26, 1965 '7 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.2

Oct. 17, 1967 A. F, GIBSON 3,347,070

EMERGENCY DOOR LATCH Filed Aug. 2e, 1965 '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Oct 17, 1967 A. F. GlBsoN 7 3,347,070

EMERGENCY DOOR LATCH FIG. 5

Oct. 17, '1967 A. F. vGIBSON v A 3,347,070

EMERGENCY DOOR LATCH Filed Aug. 2e, 1965 7 sheets-sheet 5 wlw! OJO IIIIIA Gef. 17, 1967 A. F. GIBSON 3,347,070

EMERGENCY DOOR LATCH Filed Aug. 26, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Oct. 17, 1967 A. F. GIBSON 3,347,070

EMERGENCY DOOR LATCH Filed-Aug. 2e, 1965 `7 sheets-sheet 7 United States Patent O 3,347,070 EMERGENCY DOOR LATCH Alden F. Gibson, Preston, Ontario, Canada, assignor to Hahn Brass Limited, New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada, a company of Canada Filed Aug. 26, 1965, Ser. No. 482,803 14 Claims. (Cl. 70-92) This invention relates to an improved horizontal rim type panic exit device which is commonly used on doors in commercial, institutional, industria-l and other public buildings.

Devices of this type, commonly known as panic exit devices, are attached on either the right-hand or left-hand inside face of a door depending on which way the door is hinged or pivoted. In the past, most of the panic exit devices have been designed to tit specifically on either the left-hand or right-hand inside face of the door. If it was desired to place a left-hand reverse bevel panic exit device on the inside face of a right-hand reverse door or a righthand reverse bevel panic exit device on the inside face of a lett-hand reverse door, it meant that the panic exit device had to be completely redesigned to fit the other position. This caused great disadvantage and inconvenience. The cost of panic exit device fixtures was also increased because it was necessary to duplicate parts for left-hand reverse and right-hand reverse bevel panic exit devices.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved panic exit device which can be reversed so as to function on either the left-hand or right-hand inside face of the door.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved device which may be constructed of simple parts so that it may be easily assembled according to a desired arrangement to iit either the right-hand or left-hand inside face of the door and thus reduce the number of parts that are required to be maintained for said exit devices.

Another object of this invention is to provide easy opening latch action by means of a light touch on the crash bar.

Another object of this invention is to provide a means in the latch arm of the device for positive dogging of the crash bar and full retraction of the latch bolt.

A further object of this invention is to provide a basic panic latch assembly to which additional features of operation may be added to actuate the bolt retraction assembly mechanism of the latch. These additional features may include a thumb latch piece or an outside cylinder With key unlatching means or a combination of a thumb latch piece and an outside cylinder with key unlatching means.

A further object of this invention is to provide joints between the crash bar and latch arms which reduce the possibility of any binding between the latch arms and latch casing or hinge stile casing. If any one of these units is mounted crooked or olf square with one another on the door during installation, this installation of this improved device would allow the maximum amount of free operation at all times.

The particular object of this invention is to provide a novel means for operating the bolt retractor slide assembly.

The foregoing objects are achieved in accordance with this invention by providing a panic exit device assembly comprising a casing adapted to be secured to a door, said casing having an opening in its side Wall through which a pivotally mounted latch bolt is retracted and projected, resilient means for urging said latch bolt towards projected position, a slide mounted in said casing for transverse movement, said slide being connected to said latch bolt and being provided with two integrally connected studs perpendicular thereto, said studs being adapted to ICC co-operate with link members, said link members being jointed to a link bar, a latch arm being adapted to actuate said link bar, said latch arm containing a knuckle joint which is adapted to receive a crash bar, and means for positive dogging of said crash bar.

The invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a panic exit device in accordance with this invention viewed from the open end of the casing.

FIGURE 2 is an exploded perspective view of the panic exit device shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view showing the outside of the panic exit device casing and hinge stile casing with their latch arms being connected by a crash bar.

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the knuckle joint of the latch arm assembly.

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5 5 on FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is an exploded perspective view of the outside of the latch casing with part of the casing broken away to clearly illustrate a means for positive dogging of the crashbar so that the latch bolt is held in retracted position for push and pull operation of the door.

FIGURE 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of the panic exit device in accordance with this invention including the outside cylinder with key unlocking means.

FIGURE 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the panic exit device in accordance with the invention including the outside thumb piece unlatching means.

FIGURE 9 is an exploded perspective view ofthe panic exit device showing the outside cylinder with key locking and unlocking means and outside thumb piece unlatching means.

Referring to the drawings, in particular, a panic exit v device assembly 1 is shown having a casing 2 containing apertures 3 through which fastening means are placed to attach the latch casing to the door. The casing 2 is composed of side walls 4 and 5, end Walls 6 and 7 and a curved top wall 8. A latch arm 10 is pivotally connected by pivot pin 11 in the top wall 8 of casing 2 for operating the bolt retractor slide assembly 9 consisting of a slide 30, pins 33 and 34, springs 37 and 38, studs 41 and 42, rollers 43 and 44, links 51 and 52, and link bar 53. A crash bar 12 is connected by knuckle joint 13 (shown in detail in FIG- URE 4) to the latch arm 10. The side Wall 4 of casing 2 contains an opening 16 through which a latch bolt 1'7 can be projected and retracted.

The inside of the top wall 8 contains a slot or indentation 18 adjacent and parallel to the edge 19 of opening 16. Said indentation 18 is adapted to receive a pin 20 which is held in place by an E-shaped plate 21. Said plate 21 is secured to the top wall 8 by a screw 22.

The latch bolt 17 is pivotally mounted bythe pin 20 in the casing so that it can be projected and retracted n through the opening 16 in side wall 4. Said latch bolt 17 contains a recess 23 in its inner face. A transverse bar 24 is secured in the recess for connecting said bolt retractor slide assembly 9 to said latch bolt 17.

Said bolt retractor slide assembly indicated generally by the numeral 9 consists of a slide 3-0 which is slidably mounted in ways 31 and 32 of said top wall 8. Parallel pins 33 and 34 having flanged heads 35 and 36 bear against the inner surface of Wall 5 at one end and penetrate guide bores in said slide 30. Coiled springs 37 and 38 are placed on said pins 33 and 34 respectively. Said springs 37 and 38 are placed between said heads 35 and 36 and slide 30 so that said slide 30 is resiliently urged towards the side wall 4. The forward side of the slide 30 is shaped in the form of a tongue 39. Said tongue 39 contains a groove 40 for receiving said pin 24. When said pin 24 is placed in said groove 40 a connection is made between the bolt retractor slide assembly 9 and the latch bolt 17. The top face of the slide 30 contains two integrally attached spaced studs 41 and 42 -perpendicular thereto on which rollers 43 and 44 are respectively rotatably mounted.

A top link 51 and bottom link 52 are pivotally secured to shoulders 60 and 61 respectively formed on the inner face of top wall S, by means of pivot screws 62 and 63 respectively.

Said top link 51 and bottom link 52 are shaped lin such a manner, as illustrated in FIGURE 1, so as tocooperate with rollers 43 and 44 mounted on said studs `41 and 42. Said top link 51 and bottom link 52 are loosely connected in longitudinal slots 54 and 55 respectively at opposite ends of a link bar 53. Link bar pins 56 and 57 are secured in link bar 53 so as to form axles in slots 54iand 55 respectively to receive the notches 58 and 59 of top link 51 and bottom link 52 respectively thus forming a jointed connection between said links 51 and 52 and said link bar 53. It is understood that said link members 51 `and S2 which form a connection between the slide 30 and the link bar may be of any shape provided they cooperate with rollers 43 and 44 on studs 41 and 42.and can be jointed to said link bar 53 to perform their desired function.

The link bar 53 contains a tooth 65 which meshes with tooth 66 located at the end of latch arm 10. `Therefore when latch arm is depressed tooth 66 will mesh with tooth 65 of the link bar 53 thus actuating the bolt retractor slide assembly 9 to retract the latch bolt 17. Said latch arm is maintained in normal latch bolt projected position by means of spring` 67 so that its tooth 66 is resiliently urged away from tooth 65. Spring 67 serves to return latch arm 10 and crash bar 12 to normal position when device is latched, thus taking the return strain off pins 33 and 34 and springs 37 and 38. This permits use of lighter springs 37 and 38 and provides soft easy action of latch bolt 17 to achieve optimum results under operating conditions.

The crash bar 12 is jointed to the latch arm 10 with a knuckle joint 13 consisting of a swivel stud 70 mounted in the end of said arm. Saidk swivel stud 70 is secured in said arm by means of swivel stud pin 71. A spring 73 adapted to hold swivel stud 70 in compression with the ,inside wall of arm 10 is placed adjacent the end of swivel stud 70 which is se-cured in the latch arm. The `crash bar 12 is fastened to swivel stud 70 Iby expansion sleeve 72 which is aixed to swivel stud 70 by a pointed screw 75 which when rotated into said stud forces the expansion sleeve 72 to expand by reason of the fact that the point is forced into a longitudinal slot 76 extending the` full length of said sleeve. Diametrically opposite longitudinal slot is a similar groove 77 extending the full lengthof said sleeve for permitting flexibility and thus allowing expansion and contraction. .This forces the outside surface 78 of expansion sleeve into tight engagement with the inside wall of the crash bar 12. By this connection between the crash bar and latch arm a exible joint is formed so that there is less possibility of binding between the latch arm and the latch casing even though the panic exit device is not per.- fectly aligned when installed.

From FIGURE 3 which shows the crash bar in normal assembled position, it can be seen that the opposite end of the panic crash bar 12 to that end connected to arm 10 i of panic latch assembly 1 is -connected to a hinge stile casing 79.` Crash bar 12 is secured to latch arm 10a of hinge stile casing 79 by knuckle joint 13a which is identical in construction to knuckle joint 13 described above in detail.

The operation of the latch according to this invention is verysimple. From inside to open a door secured by the panic exit device of the present invention. the crash bar 12 is pushed which rotates ythe latch arm 10 meshing together teeth and 66 which moves link bar 53 longitudinally causing top link 51 to pull down upon roller 43 on stud 41. The pull upon stud 41 causes slide 30` to` 4 slide on ways 31 and 32 towards side wall 5. This movement of slide 30 retracts latch bolt 17. When the bar 12 is released, the latch bolt is urged back into projected position by resilient means 37, 38 and 67.

From the foregoing construction it is obvious that this panic exit device can be easily adapted to function either on the left or right hand inside face of the` door. All that is necessary to change the panic exit device for installation from the left-hand` inside face of the door to the righthand inside face of the door is to turn the panic exit device end for end and exchange hinge stille case arm 10a for latch arm 10, reversing the position of hinge stile case arm 10a with that of latch arm 10, inverting them both in relation to the cases, and connecting both to the crash bar 12. When the arms are so reversed the tooth on what is now latch arm 10a meshes with the opposite side of tooth 65 to that engaged by latch arm 10. From the operation of this latch assembly, it is apparent that when the panic exit device is placed on the left-hand inside face of the door and the latch mechanism operated, the

10 contained in latch casing 2 so that when turned, the screw will enter into a tapered hole 14 in latch casing 2.-

The cone-nosed dogging screw 81 and the tapered hole 14 provide a means of compensating for the Variation of tolerances ofthe engaging surfaces. An opening 15 is provided in side 5 of latch case in line with tapered hole 14 through which a means may be inserted to turn said dogging screw. When the dogging screw 81 is completely in said latch arm 10 the crash bar 12 is free to actuate the latch bolt 17 but when the dogging screw 81 protrudes into said tapered hole 14 in latch case 2, `the latch bolt 17 is in retracted position and crash bar is dogged in an inactive position so that the door is free to be used for traic from either side. A similar dogging means a is provided for dogging the latch arm 10a -in the hinge stile casing 79.

FIGURE 7 shows a panic exit device assembly` 1 with the additional feature of retracting the latch holt 17 by key from outside the door through a rim cylinder* 83. Cylinder tailpiece 84 of rim cylinder 83 'engages crosscut cylinder cam 815 rotatably mounted in casing 2 so that when turned retracts latch bolt 17. Transverse plate 88 which is connected to the latch casing 2 maintains said cylinder cam in position. The retraction of latch bolt 17 is accomplished by tooth 86 of the saidcylinder cam 85 engaging an ear 87 of link 51 which in turn acts on roller 43'on stud 41 pulling back slide 30 toward sidewall 5. `As latch bolt 17 is connected to slide 30, any retraction of slide 30 will retract latch bolt 17.

FIGURE 8 shows a panic exit device assembly 1 with a thumb piece 90 for retracting the latch bolt 17 from the outside of the door 92. Thumb piece 90 is pivotally mounted on a surface plate 91 attached to the outside of door 92. Thumb piece tail 93 integrally attached to said thumb piece '90 engages bevelled thumb piece cam 94 integrally connected to link 52.`To unlatch the door from outside the thumb piece 90 is pushed down which raises thumb piece tail 93V to slide against the side of bevelled thumb piece cam 94. As bevelled thumb piece cam 94 is integrally attached to link 52, the upward movement of said thumb piece tail 93 causes said link 52 to pivot on pin 61 to retract slide 30 by the interaction of link 52 with roller 44 on stud 42. As slide 30 is attached to latchv FIGURE 9 illustrates a panic exit device assembly 1 with a thumb piece latch retracting means as described-` in FIGURE 8 plus a locking and unlocking means which is operated by a key in rim cylinder 83a from the outside Iof the door. Rim cylinder tail piece 84a of rim cylinder 83a engages cross-cut cylinder cam 85a. Said Icam 85a which is rotatably mounted in casing 2 is maintained in place by means of a transverse plate 88a secured to latch casing 2 by screws 89a. Tooth 86a of cylinder cam 85a engages a projection 97 on the top end 98 of longitudinal sliding locking bar 99 slidably mounted on transverse plate 88a. Said longitudinal sliding bar 99 moves in the same plane and contacts the side ltt) of bevelled thumb piece cam 94a. The bottom end 101 of said longitudinal slide bar 99 which is in contact with said lower thumb piece cam 94a is held in position by guide plate 192 fastened to the latch casing 2 by a screw 103. The bottom end 101 of said sliding bar 99 contains a hollow means, such as a V-notch therein so that the bottom end 101 would not restrict the movement of bevelled thumb piece cam 94a when the said sliding bar is in its unlocked position.

When longitudinal sliding bar 99 is projected ldownwards to contact the side 100 of thumb piece cam 94a, it prevents the opening of the door by the thumb piece 90a. The movement of longitudinal sliding bar is accomplished by the rotating of said cylinder cam 85a, for example, -counter clockwise so that the cylinder cam tooth 86a engages projection 97 of said sliding bar 99, causing said sliding bar to move into locking position.

By reversing rotation of the cylinder cam 85a, for eX- ample clockwise said cylinder cam tooth 86a will engage the opposite side of projection 97 moving said sliding bar in unlocking position away from said thumb piece cam 94a so that said thumb piece cam 94a is free to pivot with link 52 when engaged -by thumb .piece tail 93a of thumb piece 99a on the outside of the door.

However it is apparent that this locking and unlocking means illustrated in FIGURE 9 as well as the embodiments illustrated in FIGURES 7 and 8 will not prevent the latch bolt from being retracted by the bolt retractor slide assembly 9 when operated by the crash bar on the inside of the door and thus giving the desired emergency exit feature at all times.

I claim:

1. A panic exit device assembly comprising a casing adapted to be secured to a door, said casing having an opening in its side wall through which a pivotally mounted latch bolt is retracted and projected, resilient means for urging said latch bolt towards projected position, a slide mounted in said casing for transverse movement on ways formed in said casing, said slide being connected to said latch bolt and `being provided with two integrally connected studs perpendicular thereto, said studs being encased with slide rollers rotatably mounted thereon, said studs containing said rollers are adapted to each cooperate with a link` member which is pivotally secured to the top wall of said casing, each link member being jointed to an opposite end of a link bar, said link bar containing a tooth which meshes with a tooth contained on a latch arm pivotally mounted in said casing, said latch arm containing a knuckle joint which is adapted to receive a crash bar and means for positive dogging of said crash bar.

2. A panic exit device assembly according to claim 1 in which the link bar contains longitudinal slots at opposite ends for receiving sai-d link members.

3. A panic exit device assembly according to claim 2 in which the portion of the link member received in the longitudinal slot contains a notch which is jointed to an axle means extending through said longitudinal slot so that said link member may rotate about said axle member.

4. A panic exit device assembly according to claim 1 in which the resilient means is a iirst spring means consisting of a pair of springs mounted on pins which have abutment ends against the casing and other ends extending into guide bores in said slide whereby the slide is urged to maintain the latch bolt in projected position, and a sec- 6 ond spring means containing a spring mounted between the casing and said latch arm to independently return latch arm to normal latch bolt retracted position and allow softer latching action of the latch bolt.

5. A panic exit device assembly according to claim 1 in which the knuckle joint contained on said latch arm comprises a swivel stud piu secured in the end of said latch arm by a stud pin, a spring placed between the latch arm casing and the end of said swivel stud pin secured in said latch arm, an expansion sleeve mounted on the opposite end of the swivel stud pin to that secured in said latch arm to provide a tight fastening means for securing a crash bar to the said latch arm.

6. A panic exit device assembly according to claim 1 in which the means for positive dogging the crash bar consists of a cone-nosed dogging screw inserted in the portion of latch arm containing within said latch casing an opening in the outside casing of the latch casing corresponding with the position Iof said screw in said latch arm, a tapered hole in said casing in line with opening, said hole adapted to receive the said dogging screw and thus maintain the crash bar in dogged position when the said dogging screw is inserted in said hole.

7. A panic exit device assembly according to claim 6 in which the means for positive dogging the crash bar also consists of a cone-nosed dogging screw inserted in the portion of a latch arm contained within a hinge stile casing used in co-operation wtih said panic latch casing, an opening in the outside casing of said hinge stile casing corresponding with the position of said screw in said latch arm, a tapered hole in said hinge stile casing in line with said opening, said hole adapted to receive the said dogging screw and thus aid the dogging means in panic latch casing to maintain the crash bar in dogged position when said dogging screws are inserted in said holes.

8. A panic eXit device assembly comprising a casing adapted to be secured to a door, said casing having an opening in its side wall through which a pivotally mounted latch bolt is retracted and projected, resilient means for urging said latch bolt towards projected position, a slide mounted in said casing for transverse movement on ways formed in said casing, said slide being connected to said latch bolt and being provided with two integrally connected studs perpendicular thereto, said studs being encased with slide rollers rotatably mounted thereon, one yof said studs containing said roller is adapted to co-operate with a bottom link member which is pivotally secured to the top wall of said casing While the other of said studs containing said roller is adapted to co-operate with a top link member which is also pivotally secured to the top wall of said casing, said bottom and top link member being jointed to opposite end of a link bar, said link bar containing a tooth which meshes with a tooth contained on a latch arm pivotally mounted in said casing, said latch yarm containing a knuckle joint which is adapted to receive a crash bar, a cone-shaped dogging screw contained in said latch arm adapted to be screwed in a tapered hole in said case through a corresponding opening in the outside wall of the latch casing to provide for positive dogging of said crash bar, a key-actuated lock penetrating said 4door associated with said casing including a cylinder cam engaging an ear formed as part of said top link so that when said cylinder cam is rotated it will actuate the slide retracting assembly t-o retract said latch bolt.

9. A panic exit device assembly comprising a casing adapted to be secured to a door, said casing having an -opening in its side wall through which a pivotally mounted latch bolt is retracted and projected, resilient means for urging said latch bolt towards projected positi-on, a slide mounted in said casing for transverse movement on ways formed in said casing, said slide being connected to said latch bolt and being provided with two integrally connected studs perpendicular thereto, said studs being encased with slide rollers rotatably mounted thereon, one of said studs containing said roller is adapted to co-operate with a bottom link member which is pivotally secured to the top wall of said casing while the other of said studs containing said roller is adapted to co-operate with a top link memberv which is also pivotally secured to the top Wall of said easing, said bottom and top link member being jointed to opposite end of a link bar, sai-d link bar containing a tooth which meshes with a tooth contained on a latch arm pivotally mounted in said casing, said latch arm containing a knuckle joint which is adapted to receive a crash bar, a cone-shaped dogging screw contained in said latch arm adapted to be screwed in a tapered hole in said case through a corresponding opening in the outside wall of the latch casing to provide for positive flogging of said crash bar, a thumb piece mounted outside said casing with a thumb piece tail projecting into said casing to engage a bevelled knuckled thumb piece cam integrally secured t-o said bottom link so that said latch bolt may be retracted by pushing down on said thumb piece and thus actuating said latch bolt independently of said crash bar.

l0. A panic exit device assembly comprising la casing adapted to be secured to a door, said casing having an opening in its side wall through which a pivotally mounted latch bolt is retracted and projected, resilient means for urging said latch bolt towards projected position, a slide` mounted in said casing for transverse movement on ways formed in said casing, said slide being connected to said latch bolt and being provided with two integrally connected studs perpendicular thereto, said studs being encased with slide` rollers rotatably mounted thereon, one of said studs containing said roller is adapted to cooperate with a bottom link member which is pivotally secured to the top wall of said casing while the other of ,said studs containing said roller is adapted to cooperate with a top link member which is also pivotally secured to the top wall of said casing, said bottom and top link member being jointed to opposite end of a link bar,fsaid link bar containing a tooth which meshes with a tooth contained on la latch arm pivotally mounted in said casing, saidtlatch arm containing a knuckle joint which is adapted to receive a crash bar, a cone-shaped dogging screw contained in said latch arm adapted to be screwed in a tapered hole in said case through a corresponding opening in the outside wall of the latch casing to provide for positive dogging of said crash bar, a thumb piece mounted outside said casing with a thumb piecettail'projectiug into said casing to engage a bevelled thumb piece cam integrally secured to saidv bottom link so that said latch bolt may be retracted by pushing down on said thumb piece and thus actuating saidv latch bolt independently of said crash bar, a key-actuated lock penetrating said door associated with said casing including a rotatably mounted cylinder cam adapted to engage either side of a projection on a slide locking bar slidably mounted in a longitudinal direction and in the same place in said casing as said bevelled thumb piece CTI 8 cam so that when said slide locking bar contacts the said bevelled thumb piece cam the movement of said bevelled thumb piece is restricted so that said thumb piece connected thereto cannot be used to actuate said latch bolt, said cylinder cam being adapted so that when rotated in one direction by engaging a side of said projection on said' slide locking bar the said slide locking bar is moved out of contact with said bevelled thumb cam while when rotated in the opposite direction by engaging the opposite side of said projection on said slide locking bar is moved into contact with said bevelledthumb cam, said end of said slide locking bar which contacts said bevelled thumb piece cam being so shaped that it does not restrict the movement of said bevelled thumb piece cam when said slide locking baris not in contact with said bevelled thumb piece.

11. A panic exit device assembly according to claim 8 in which the link bar contains longitudinal slots at opposite ends for receiving said link members.

12. A panic exit device assembly according to claim 8 in which the portion of the link member received in the longitudinal slot contains a notch which is jointed to an axle means extending through said longitudinal slot so that said link member may rotate about said axle means.

13. A panic exit device assembly according to claim 8 in which the resilient means is a rst spring means consisting of a pair of springs mounted on pins which have abutment ends against the casing and other ends extending into guide bores in said slide whereby the slide is urged to maintain the latch bolt in projected position, and la second spring means containing a spring mounted between the casing and said latch arms to independently return latch arm to normal latch bolt retracted position and allow softer latching action.

14. A panic exit device assembly according to claim 8 in which the knuckle joint contained on said latch arm comprises a swivel stud pin secured in the end of said latch arm by a stud pin, a spring placed between the latch arm casing and the end of said swivel stud pin secured in said latch arm, an expansion sleeve mounted on the opposite end of the swivel stud pin to that secured in said latch arm to provide a tight fastening means for securing said crash bar to the said latch arm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,701,099y 2/1929 Clark 292-92 2,147,581 2/1939 PrinZler 70-92 2,854,838 10/1958 Foster 70-92 3,148,903 9/1964 Foster 292--92 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

E. I. MCCARTHY, AssstantExamner. 

1. A PANIC EXIT DEVICE ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A CASING ADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO A DOOR, SAID CASING HAVING AN OPENING IN ITS SIDE WALL THROUGH WHICH A PIVOTALLY MOUNTED LATCH BOLT IS RETRACTED AND PROJECTED, RESILIENT MEANS FOR URGING SAID LATCH BOLT TOWARDS PROJECTED POSITION, A SLIDE MOUNTED IN SAID CASING FOR TRANSVERSE MOVEMENT ON WAYS FORMED IN SAID CASING, SAID SLIDE BEING CONNECTED TO SAID LATCH BOLT AND BEING PROVIDED WITH TWO INTEGRALLY CONNECTED STUDS PERPENDICULAR THERETO, SAID STUDS BEING ENCASED WITH SLIDE ROLLERS ROTATABLY MOUNTED THEREON, SAID STUDS CONTAINING SAID ROLLERS ARE ADAPTED TO EACH COOPERATE WITH A LINK MEMBER WHICH IS PIVOTALLY SECURED TO THE TOP WALL OF SAID CASING, EACH LINK MEMBER BEING JOINTED TO AN OPPOSITE END OF A LINK BAR, SAID LINK BAR CONTAINING A TOOTH WHICH MESHES WITH A TOOTH CONTAINED ON A LATCH ARM PIVOTALLY MOUNTED IN SAID CASING, SAID LATCH ARM CONTAINING A KNUCKLE JOINT WHICH IS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE A CRASH BAR AND MEANS FOR POSITIVE DOGGING OF SAID CRASH BAR. 